


Harrowing Inferno

by FireFaceOutlook



Series: Breaking Down The Flames [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Post-Dressrosa, Soul Mate AU, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 22:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8685409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: He turned, apprehension and excitement boiling together in his mind and bringing a large grin to his face.
  
  "Ace!"





	

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: This takes place after _Filling the Void_ , part of my Eye Contact AU. I suggest reading that story before this one, but it can essentially be read separately. But you'd have to read _Filling the Void_ to understand some of the references to it, so... Anyway, enjoy the story!**

Sabo still couldn't believe Koala wouldn't let him go after Ace.

“It's not that I don't believe you,” she insisted with an off-expression that revealed that was partially the reason. “But Hack is still injured and we have to report our discovery and success in our mission.”

Sabo reluctantly conceded to her decision and retreated to his room to scour his overflowing desk until he found a list of potentially useful Den Den Mushi contacts he'd collected in his free time over the past two years. That included the number for a certain First Division Commander of a late Yonko.

It took a lengthy amount of time to explain who he was to the new Whitebeard Pirate captain and even longer to convince him that he wouldn't have a reason to lie about Ace's resurrection. In the end, Marco agreed to give a visit to the island where his father figure and youngest brother – as well as other fallen allies – were buried.

_At least Ace won't be stranded,_ Sabo thought, still a little miffed that he wasn't allowed to go himself.

  


Once they arrived at Baltigo and reported to Dragon, Sabo didn't try to set out and reunite with Ace. He had a feeling, deep within his soul, that Ace was no longer where he had been during the dream sequence. So, to distract himself until any information about Ace surfaced, Sabo used every spare moment he had to work on controlling his Devil Fruit ability. He gained further incentive when he had his first panic attack.

Sabo never had a reason to fear fire. Ever since the Revolutionaries saved him, he had a slight discomforting feeling around flames, but never anything more. With the return of his memories about his childhood, however, he also remembered the explosion that took away his memories of his brothers and almost killed him. It was an incident that should've left him as a traumatized child, but he hadn't recalled that event at the time.

That didn't mean he had outright pyrophobia now that he remembered what had happened. He could practice with the Mera Mera no Mi ability and only feel the slight unease he had since he was ten. But one day, while he was catching up on paperwork, he was startled by Inazuma, who had come to collect him for lunch, since he'd been working all morning. He jolted at his friend's voice and flames erupted from his shoulders, causing Inazuma to back away, but Sabo hardly noticed. His chest felt painfully tight, making it difficult to breathe, and despite the flames' small size (they seemed to get even smaller as less air made it to Sabo's lungs*), the glow out of the corner of Sabo's eye* still brought him back to the little fishing boat he'd desperately tried to save before everything went to Hell with a second explosion.

When Sabo came back to himself, he was slumped on the floor against his desk with Ivankov gripping his biceps firmly and speaking to him in a low, soothing voice, as if coaxing a wild animal.

“It's okay, Sabo. Just keep breathing like that.”

Sabo realized he was mimicking Iva's breathing pattern. At the same time, he noticed that the tips of the okama's gloves were singed. The same could be said for the side of the desk he was leaning against, the papers scattered on the floor, and the edges of Inazuma's sleeves (the Choki Choki no Mi user was standing by the door).

“I'm... I'm sorry,” he croaked, glancing over at Inazuma, who waved off the apology.

“Here, let's get vyou up,” Iva said, standing and helping Sabo to his feet.

He felt drained as he allowed his friends to usher him to his bed. He slept deep into the evening hours before hunger drove him to the kitchen, just in time to catch dinner with a relived Koala.

“I'm glad you're okay,” she told him as he prepared to depart for his room again afterwards.

Once back at his desk, he finished his paperwork, though he had to rewrite all the burnt reports.

_What a pain,_ he complained to himself as he set the finished stack aside.

At this point, the sun was already below the horizon and he wasn't tired, so he pulled out the journal of adventures he'd began when he joined the Revolutionaries and settled down to record the details of Dressrosa's events. Sabo was sure that his previous incident would be the worst he would have to deal with until he got his new ability under control. 

Except he forgot about the nightmares.

With the return of his memories came the formation of nightmares that often woke him in the middle of the night, soaked in sweat and breathing heavily. Of course, the boat explosion made up some of them, but there was also a few about being back at Goa Kingdom, never escaping the high-walled confines, or of going to Grey Terminal after the fire and finding his brothers' charred corpses. The worst of them involved the deaths of Ace and Luffy, leaving him with a crushing sense of guilt and worthlessness.

It was at the peak of one of those nightmares that Sabo woke in the center of an inferno that engulfed his whole room. He could hear Koala yelling to him from outside his door. It didn't take long to realize he was unconsciously fueling the flames in response to his dreadful dream and even less time to work on extinguishing the fire. Afterwards, he accompanied Koala to the infirmary, apologizing profusely for her burned hand (gained when she attempted to open his door and found the doorknob to be blistering hot).

  


Over the next week, Sabo found his patience tried time and time again. Between losing sleep due to fear of burning down the base because of nightmares and the unwillingness of his flames to be tamed, he was beginning to wish for a simpler ability or to not have one at all (though he quickly took those thoughts back afterwards because his consumption of the Devil Fruit had brought his soulmate and brother back from the dead).

One day, his flames were acting strange. They flickered as he trained, always bowing in the same direction, as if being drawn to something or blown by a wind that wasn't there. There was a cacophony of noise coming from the base, but he would've been contacted if he was needed. Normally, even then, he'd go investigate, if only to sate his curiosity, but the fire was behaving abnormally well and he wanted to take advantage of that. He could feel eyes on him, but he brushed it off as Koala; she was becoming increasingly concerned about him training to death recently.

Someone began to approach, someone not hostile or exuding ill-will towards him (as far as he could tell with his haki); someone unfamiliar...yet not. There was a sort of pull from within his soul and his flames flickered once again, in the direction of the person approaching, and Sabo just knew.

He turned, apprehension and excitement boiling together in his mind and bringing a large grin to his face.

“Ace!”

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: So this story essentially takes place during part four of my Eye Contact AU, which will be coming soon. Since part four of Eye Contact is supposed to be centered around Ace, I wanted everyone to know what Sabo was up to during that time.**   
>  ***oxygen = fire**   
>  ***I'm all for the "Sabo's left eye is blind" headcanon**


End file.
